^_^ Thanks. Would've said something earlier, but I haven't been on the forums for a while. I'll watch it as soon as I can.
EDIT: Okay, now you're just showing off ;)
Incredible, incredible work, as always.
Currently working on:
(All Consoles) Improving my TAS abilities
(GBA) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Future runs:
(SNES) Ys III: Wanderers From Ys
Quick reply to end my obsessive editing spree:
I'm delaying this run until I grasp more of a concept of TASes and how much work they'll take. So far I've rarely used frame advance (only during menus, text, and nearly inescapable situations), and I'm clocking an unusually high number of rerecords (at least for me, I've made fullspeed runs of 30 minutes plus with less than 100 rerecords, and this run's only about 5 minutes with about 400). I'm still a newbie at this, of course, though I often tend to practice during normal emulator play, and I often take notes on other peoples' runs in case I ever plan on an improvement (which I might end up doing someday for Aria of Sorrow).
Feel free to watch my WIPs and continue to add comments, I'll try to answer every one.
I'll continue working on this sometime over summer.
I know it's hard to see a run go down this quickly, but I jumped the gun by choosing an exceptionally difficult game to TAS (the levelling system did it for me), and by starting a TAS about 4 hours after playing the game the first time.
If someone else wants to do this run, by all means, go ahead.
Currently working on:
(All Consoles) Improving my TAS abilities
(GBA) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Future runs:
(SNES) Ys III: Wanderers From Ys
You should start by finishing one run and doing another with changes you think would be faster
it will probably take you 2 test runs before you know what's the absolute fastest way to beat the game, unless you plan on restarting a lot
I've restarted the run many times already. My goal is to make a good run my first time through. It's probably not going to end up that way, seeing as this is my first TAS (although I tend to practice during normal play), and the first time I played this game was about 10 hours ago.
My goal for right now is to keep you people occupied with a slew of WIPs so I don't have anyone complaining until I get a path down. I'm taking every suggestion I get and creating some WIPs to see which is better. The WIP I'm working on right now is what seems to be the fastest so far, although I'll still probably need to run back to recharge my ring before the boss, due to the fact that the slime enemies can't be hurt at level 3 without the Power Ring.
Keep making suggestions, people. They really help newbies like me ^_^
Currently working on:
(All Consoles) Improving my TAS abilities
(GBA) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Future runs:
(SNES) Ys III: Wanderers From Ys
- I didn't recharge ring power, since most monsters die fast enough already and full power only lasts 1-2 minutes ... I just kept it for bosses, but did use it while leveling on a monster that took 12 hits (it was about 70% full by then). I'm just not sure the time it takes to recharge and switch rings (and go back several times) is shorter than what you save by killing in less hits, but then I haven't tested it ...
- You bought an armor and shield, while I only went for swords, is it worth surviving a few more hits? I never got hit except against bosses (refills HP when defeated) and just before gaining a level (refills HP on NES), just about anything would kill me in about 3 hits. Also, spending more means it'll take longer to get enough gold for the Broad Sword ...
- Since you'd have to spend time walking back and forth for leveling anyway, wouldn't it be faster to kill the monsters in the way before getting the ring (to make it shorter after), or do they really take too long for that?
For point 1, I might take that into consideration. I'll run a couple tests to see how much time they take.
For point 2, I realized this after reading your topic (I read through it a couple hours ago). For now, I'd like to keep the armor and shield, seeing as though I only started playing the game today. If I decide to improve the run (which I most likely will), I'll skip buying the armor and shield. Also, if you haven't seen already, gaining a level doesn't refill HP. I'd be a lot happier if it did, and I'd probably get a lot more done.
For point 3, it would be faster, and I could save some ring power for the boss.
I might restart the entire run due to this, but it's a risk I'm willing to take for the essence of speed. Thank you, Acmlm.
Currently working on:
(All Consoles) Improving my TAS abilities
(GBA) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Future runs:
(SNES) Ys III: Wanderers From Ys
So, that mistake in the WIP is going to be corrected? Or kept forever?
I'm working on a new WIP as I speak that corrects that mistake, along with my biggest mistake of not recharging my ring power (that mistake alone would cost me over a minute). I'll probably have it up in a half hour or so.
Currently working on:
(All Consoles) Improving my TAS abilities
(GBA) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Future runs:
(SNES) Ys III: Wanderers From Ys
Could someone please encode an AVI of the latest WIP? Mupen is horrible on my computer, and I'm plagued with 50 error messages a minute, plus it's running about 5 FPS slow, which screws up the sound.
Currently working on:
(All Consoles) Improving my TAS abilities
(GBA) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Future runs:
(SNES) Ys III: Wanderers From Ys
This post is meant to be edited with every new WIP.
Old WIPS:
WIP 1 - Intro to Quarry.WIP 2 - Intro to Power Ring. Mistakes fixed.WIP 3 - Intro through levelling up (I believe).
Some notes on the current WIP:
1. After completely redoing the run with Acmlm's comments, I decided the game is much too hard for a first-timer like me. Below is my feeble attempt to fight through the Quarry without armor or a shield.
2. You'll notice a blaringly large random session of movements before I start levelling up. I don't know why I did this. Frankly, after reviewing this WIP, I almost deemed it unsatisfactory to post. Once I get back to work, I'll redo the levelling up section, after I master a quicker method that I only pulled off once (seen in my 3rd WIP). This should hopefully level me up to 4, which (after I go back and recharge my ring), will kill off Dulan a bit quicker.
3. I wish I could land between the two slimes, but I have to waste some ring power to kill off the first one, then the other one on the way back.
4. Overall, I didn't like this run through. The huge time loss before levelling up did it for me. I also screwed up and got hit way too many times. I should've killed more enemies on the way to my level up point. Yeah, I have a list of complaints against my own run.
Here is the current WIP.
Currently working on:
(All Consoles) Improving my TAS abilities
(GBA) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Future runs:
(SNES) Ys III: Wanderers From Ys
Today I decided to browse through the List of Ideas. I stumbled upon Ys III and thought "Hey, I've heard of it." So I downloaded it earlier and started playing through. 4 hours later I'm just about ready to TAS it.
I'll first make a runthrough using the Debug cheat to plan an effective path, and to see how early I can kill the bosses with speed and precision. After I get a path down, I'll start the actual TAS. I'm estimating that the game will clock in at about an hour, due to the fact that most enemies are invincible until you hit a certain strength level, so I'll have to spend some time levelling up, which might be a bit boring.
I'll post a (VERY) quick run to the Quarry soon to keep you "entertained" while I work on my path.
Edit: All WIPs will be in the post below.
All comments, good and bad, are appreciated.
Currently working on:
(All Consoles) Improving my TAS abilities
(GBA) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Future runs:
(SNES) Ys III: Wanderers From Ys
My brain just exploded. True story. But I like how you're all diving deeper into one of the greatest games of all time, hopefully setting up for a good TAS. I'll be waiting. I swear.
Currently working on:
(All Consoles) Improving my TAS abilities
(GBA) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Future runs:
(SNES) Ys III: Wanderers From Ys
If he gets an enemy's soul either the first or within the first few times he encounters the enemy, I assume the only reason it'll be slow is due to all the dialog that explains the enemy soul, but the speed could be made up by using combinations of other souls (use every strength increasing soul as you get it, for example).
Looking forward to the run, and Atma's run!
Currently working on:
(All Consoles) Improving my TAS abilities
(GBA) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Future runs:
(SNES) Ys III: Wanderers From Ys
Do we really need this many GBA Castlevania movies? I can't really even tell the difference…
Saying that's like saying "Do we really need this many NES Mario movies?"
[Edited by Bisqwit: No full-quotes please. Shortened to the relevant length.]
[Edited by Inert: Sorry sir, didn't read the rules, I'll be more careful]
Currently working on:
(All Consoles) Improving my TAS abilities
(GBA) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Future runs:
(SNES) Ys III: Wanderers From Ys